Equip Me (for Persecution).

Every afternoon I babysit for a single mom for a few hours. The whole experience is fun and often frustrating for several different reasons, but i am blessed to be able to do it. The other day i was thinking about how she doesn't pay me accurately.... lots of times she's sloppy at calculation. I was contemplating if i should bring it up to her or ignore it.
A few days later i was reading in 1 Peter and noticed how chapters 3-5 talk a lot about persecution.

"Remember, it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is what God wants, than to suffer for doing wrong!" 

1 Peter 3:17

Reading through that scripture and those after, i immediately thought about how a lot of people complain about their jobs and that i need to keep 3:17 in mind when i am dissatisfied with the way work is going. People suffer through their jobs not necessarily for being Christ Followers, but because of unfair treatment. In that moment, God convicted me.

If i can't handle working for a single mom who does pay me, just not accurately at times, and if i can't handle missing out on a few bucks that do not make a whole lot of a difference then how am i going to be equipped to handle true persecution for loving Jesus when that time comes?

I want to do good like God commands in 3:17, and not focus on what i may or may not be getting, but to focus on what i am doing to love instead. It's all God's money anyways, i do not deserve to have any if i am not honoring God in my work. "Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men." Ephesians 6:7.

"Dear friends, don’t be surprised at the fiery trials you are going through, as if something strange were happening to you. Instead, be very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it is revealed to all the world."

1 Peter 4:12-13

I want to be a partner with Christ. He wants us to be ready to suffer and to be loving to those that persecute us in the midst of it all (Matt 5:44). God says that it is worthless to love your friend and not love your enemy. Where is the challenge in that? Where is the line that distinguishes the godly from the worldly? (Matt 5:47-48)

I want to be equipped and ready for the coming fiery that God speaks about. I need to pass the little tests life throws at us and strengthen my heart and soul through the smaller trials if i am going to one day live through real persecution and harder trials for what actually matters--- following Christ.